The United Democratic Movement Youth Vanguard (UDM Youth Vanguard) is disgusted and angry at higher education minister Naledi Pandor’s deafening silence when, year-by-year, students are driven to protest to get their basic right to education upheld.

The dream of free tertiary education in South Africa is fleeting and the promise itself rings hollow. The ruling party has once again shown that they have no capacity to deliver on its promises made to needy students across the country.

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) fatal shooting is one of many incidents propelled by the lack of urgency displayed by the education department and government in resolving not just issues at institutions of learning, but service delivery in our society at large. They always wait until the blood of the innocent is spilt on the streets of our country and then act as a mighty saviour whilst our peers die fighting for equality and freedom.

The UDM Youth Vanguard feels that we are not free until the means of education is granted to all of us and the doors of equal opportunity are open to each and every young person in South Africa.

We call on minister Pandor to intervene now, not only at the KwaZulu-Natal tertiary institutions, but also at the University of the Witwatersrand and other institutions that are going through a similar crisis, before the situation further deteriorates.

Our deepest condolences to the bereaved family, friends and colleagues of the fallen young hero who died at the DUT.